to make ... that comparison ... is ... not right. Phil ... at ... least finishes ... his sent- ... sentences ... before... the race ... is over.

That said, I actually like Merchant. A lot. He brings honesty and integrity to the broadcasts, and he's still the best post-fight/post-event interviewer in sports. He asks questions the fans want to know, and he doesn't care if the athlete likes it or not.

Back to Phil though, I too noticed his increased amount of mistakes. Kind of strange.

Ginus Lerdemann! Marcus Bergmann!
My ultimate favorite is that Phil makes such a point of lisping the "s" sound in Spanish names, which is a dialect thing I've been told. He gets so excited he even lisps the j in Alejandro Valverde. Yet he insists upon pronouncing poor Iban Mayo's name like may-o instead of my-o. Basic, easy name in Spanish. I can forgive him for messing up Kashechkin, but for God's sake fix Mayo!

I don't think Phil's any worse this year than the last several. Last year he called Levi "Lance" several times, and I remember all sorts of mistakes with Floyd's name. Plus there was the "Laching Eggs" comment. "Sarlos Castra" is among my favorites for this year. My other two are when both Paul and Phil called each other their own name. Paul did it right before commentary began on the Prologue, and Phil did it more recently.

to make ... that comparison ... is ... not right. Phil ... at ... least finishes ... his sent- ... sentences ... before... the race ... is over.

That said, I actually like Merchant. A lot. He brings honesty and integrity to the broadcasts, and he's still the best post-fight/post-event interviewer in sports. He asks questions the fans want to know, and he doesn't care if the athlete likes it or not.

Back to Phil though, I too noticed his increased amount of mistakes. Kind of strange.